Volume 203, 15 July 2016, Pages 483–490
- Chair for Fruit Growing, Viticulture and Vegetable Growing, Department of Agronomy, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva 101, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Received 23 September 2015, Revised 10 February 2016, Accepted 16 February 2016, Available online 16 February 2016
Highlights
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- Selected spirit-based beverages contain beneficial and harmful chemical compounds.
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- Specific compounds transfer from the fruit kernels into the liquid.
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- The content of cyanogenic glycosides decreased during four weeks of steeping.
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- The content of several phenolics increased during liqueur preparation.
Abstract
Popular
liqueurs made from apricot/cherry pits were evaluated in terms of their
phenolic composition and occurrence of cyanogenic glycosides (CGG).
Analyses consisted of detailed phenolic and cyanogenic profiles of
cherry and apricot seeds as well as beverages prepared from crushed
kernels. Phenolic groups and cyanogenic glycosides were analyzed with
the aid of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass
spectrophotometry (MS). Lower levels of cyanogenic glycosides and
phenolics have been quantified in liqueurs compared to fruit kernels.
During fruit pits steeping in the alcohol, the phenolics/cyanogenic
glycosides ratio increased and at the end of beverage manufacturing
process higher levels of total analyzed phenolics were detected compared
to cyanogenic glycosides (apricot liqueur: 38.79 μg CGG per ml and
50.57 μg phenolics per ml; cherry liqueur 16.08 μg CGG per ml and
27.73 μg phenolics per ml). Although higher levels of phenolics are
characteristic for liqueurs made from apricot and cherry pits these
beverages nevertheless contain considerable amounts of cyanogenic
glycosides.
Keywords
- Cyanogenic glycosides;
- Phenolic compounds;
- Amygdalin;
- Prunasin;
- HPLC–MS
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